NetCOBOL supports the current ANSI COBOL Object -oriented specification. This means that you can write object -oriented COBOL programs using NetCOBOL.
Creating COM components using the NetCOBOL development environment requires that you create OO COBOL programs.
This manual will not attempt to teach you object-oriented COBOL (OO COBOL). In the next chapter, however, it will detail how to convert a procedural COBOL program into an OO COBOL program. For in-depth information about programming in OO COBOL, refer to the NetCOBOL documentation. You may additionally examine the NetCOBOL sample programs that are by default installed in:
C:\Program Files\Fujitsu NetCOBOL for Windows\COBOL\Samples
The OO COBOL programming examples begin with SAMPLE15 and go up.
Some of the object-oriented terms you need to understand are:
Class - A Class is a definition of data and functions to act upon the data. In COBOL terms, it is the high level definition of an executable module or OO COBOL program.
Object - An Object is a specific executable program instance derived from a Class. In COBOL terms, it is a specific executable load module (Window’s .DLL) created from a COBOL class at runtime.
Inheritance - Inheritance is the concept of building a class by using properties and methods from an existing class as a base and then adding to it. The new class inherits the properties and methods of an existing class.
Method - A Method is a specific function contained within an Object. In COBOL terms, it is a callable function (for example, a Performable COBOL Paragraph) contained within an OO COBOL Program.
Property - A Property is data item that contains a given value. In COBOL terms, it is a data item that may or may not be exposed outside the COBOL program.
